FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT 15TH CENTURY - PAGE 3

Those who think that crossing the Atlantic in a 747 can be a daunting experience never would have made the cut to join Christopher Columbus' crew to make the same trip aboard the tiny Nina. The minute size of the vessel was a common observation among the hundreds who have visited a replica of the 93-foot wooden sailing ship moored last weekend at Waukegan Harbor. "Everywhere we go we hear `It's so small,' " said Ernest Holloway, first officer of the eight-person crew of the replica Nina.

Can a single book really change the world? There are plenty of candidates, including Lucretius' "On the Nature of Things," and W.W. Norton has reissued Frank O. Copley's translation of this wondrous poem to coincide with Stephen Greenblatt's "The Swerve: How the World Became Modern," an equally wondrous book about how this classic was nearly lost and why Western civilization would be much poorer if that had happened. Winner of this year's National Book Award for nonfiction, which was announced during a recent ceremony in New York, "The Swerve" triumphed over an impressive field of finalists including several books on major historical figures.

No matter how lush the production values, big the talent, or compelling the topic, a project lives or dies by the actor at the center of it all. Leelee Sobieski ("Never Been Kissed") is the capable center of CBS' ambitious "Joan of Arc." The 16-year-old Helen Hunt lookalike shines as the legendary French farm girl who claimed to be God's choice to unite her country against the English during the 15th Century. Her reward? A trip to the stake where she was burned to death as a heretic.

OJO CALIENTE, N.M. — When gray winter skies linger for weeks, I daydream about Ojo Caliente, N.M. Ojo, as the locals call it, is a little town between Santa Fe and Taos that seems to exist solely to provide a ZIP code for the natural hot springs of the same name. The first time a friend told me about Ojo, she said, "Go north from Santa Fe to Espanola and take a left." Those directions aren't far off: The town is about an hour and 15 minutes from Santa Fe — and worth every minute of the commute.

Q. What's the adjective form of the word "integrity," when you're referring to someone who displays great integrity? "Integreful"? "Integrated"? -- Carl Deitrick, Elgin A. You can do one of three things. You can either try to single-handedly revive a word such as "integritive" or "integrious," which English retired centuries ago, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (in 1658, Sir Henry Slingsby wrote in his diary, "Such was their integrious candor and intimacy to me ..."

Right off, let's get one thing straight. We`re talking garbage here. Not "solid wastes," as the bureaucrats like to call it. Not some exotic chemistry secretly released by unscrupulous industrialists. We`re talking about the stuff we all put out at the curb-that dreadful, steamy, steady, stinking flow of bones and rinds, plastic and paper, gunk and junk. Betty Crocker, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben. Whole cataloguesful of sofas, refrigerators, storm windows. Garbage-the spoor of the human species.

A Dracula theme park will be built at a Romanian resort where Vlad the Impaler, a 15th Century nobleman who impaled his enemies on spikes and inspired the fictional character, is buried, Radio Total reported Thursday. The government wanted to build Dracula Park in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara, but protests forced the move to Snagov resort. ---------- Compiled from news services and edited by Curt Wagner (cwwagner@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)

Actress Jeri Ryan married Christophe Eme, a French chef, in the French countryside on Saturday. Ryan, who stars on CBS' "Shark," wore Vera Wang as the couple exchanged vows in the garden of the 15th Century Chateau de Noirieux, people.com reports. Back in the States, the two co-own the L.A. restaurant Ortolan, where Eme is executive chef. They met in 2003 when a friend introduced them at a charity event.

Romania's government gave the go-ahead this week for a Dracula theme park, private Radio Total reported Thursday. The park is to be built at Snagov, a lakeside resort where Vlad the Impaler is buried. The park will include a golf course and other leisure activities for adults and children. Vlad the Impaler was a 15th Century warrior nobleman who impaled his enemies on spikes and inspired Bram Stoker to create his fictional bloodthirsty Count Dracula.

Seven-year-old Cristina Zvunca watched in horror as her mother was crushed beneath the wheels of a Greyhound bus. As her mother lay face down dying in the street, Cristina screamed "Mommy" and collapsed over the body. The 2002 fatal accident led to what should have been a routine lawsuit. Except that in the Cook County court system, it became anything but routine. More than a decade later, Cristina waits for justice. In the years since her mother was swept under the 37,000-pound bus, her case has spawned 13 other lawsuits, more than 25 appeals and a series of questionable decisions by Cook County judges.